Dunmurry train bombing | |
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Details | |
Date | 17 January 1980 |
Location | Dunmurry, near Belfast |
Coordinates | 54°33′39.2″N 5°59′35.2″W / 54.560889°N 5.993111°W |
Country | Northern Ireland |
Line | Belfast–Dublin railway line |
Cause | Premature detonation of IRA bomb |
Statistics | |
Trains | 1 |
Passengers | Unknown |
Deaths | 3 |
Injured | 5 |
List of UK rail accidents by year |
The Dunmurry train bombing was a premature detonation of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) incendiary bomb aboard a Ballymena to Belfast passenger train service on 17 January 1980.
The blast engulfed a carriage of the train in flames, killing three and injuring five others. One of the dead and the most seriously injured survivors were volunteers of the IRA. After the blast, the organisation issued a statement acknowledging responsibility, apologising to those who were harmed and stated that it was 'grave and distressing' but an 'accident' caused by the 'war situation'.[1]